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Presidential Advisor on Mutant Affairs;[3] Deputy Presidential National Security Advisor for para-human affairs;[4] Government liaison in mutant affaires;[5] Special Assistant to the National Security Adviser of the President of the United States, Chairperson of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, former liaison to X-Factor.

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History

Dr. Valerie Cooper, a Special Assistant to the United States President's National Security Adviser, was perhaps the most important figure in the United States government's ongoing efforts to cope with the growing number of superhuman beings in the nation.

Dr. Cooper's primary concern was the danger that she believed superhuman mutants posed to the United States. Cooper recognized that superhuman mutants were emerging throughout the world and that both governments and private interests had begun to exploit their abilities. She believed that superhuman mutants in the employ of unfriendly powers could wreak havoc with the national security of the United States. Hence, she wanted the United States government to be able to protect itself against superhuman mutants and to strike back against them if necessary. She saw the United States as engaged in the equivalent of an "arm race" with other nations to find and develop an effective corps of superhuman mutants of its own before they do. Furthermore, Dr. Cooper disapproved of the activities of superhuman crime fighters who did not have the approval of the United States government.[6][7]

Mystique, leader of the second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, approached Cooper with the proposal of offering the Brotherhood's services as government operatives. Cooper accepted Mystique's offer, and the Brotherhood then operated under government auspices as Freedom Force, which Cooper supervised.[8]

She was involved in the Commission's demand of ownership over the identity and property of "Captain America." She supervised the recruitment and training of the fifth Captain America (now known as US Agent) and his partner Battlestar. Ultimately, the former Captain America revealed this to be a plot by his archenemy, the Red Skull, and he was reinstated as Captain America.[9] Dr. Cooper who, acting on behalf of the government, commissioned the inventor, Forge, to devise means to detecting superhuman powers.[10]

When the majority of Freedom Force was caught or compromised after a mission to Kuwait during the Gulf War, the Freedom Force project was abandoned. About the same time, the villainous Shadow King mentally controlled Cooper. For reasons unclear, the Shadow King ordered Cooper to shoot Mystique.[11] Through force of will, however, Cooper managed to turn the gun on herself at the last minute. Mystique contacted espionage agent Nick Fury who helped cover up to truth, and for a while Mystique impersonated Cooper while the world believed her dead. During the impersonation, Mystique had herself hypnotized to believe herself to be Cooper so that the Shadow King would believe he had succeeded. Cooper resurfaced and Mystique resumed her identity when the hero teams X-Men and X-Factor and assorted allies defeated the Shadow King. [12][13]

Cooper convinced several of the heroes who defeated the Shadow King to be a part of a new government-sponsored team in the spirit of Freedom Force: the new X-Factor. Cooper acted as government liaison to the very publicly operating team, but later she fell under the mental influence of one of the Acolytes of Magneto, and X-Factor was taken from her control and placed under the liaison of their member Forge.[14]

When X-Factor's team leader Havok lost control of his powers and disappeared, Forge became team leader and Val slid back into the role of liaison, though she was forced to implement policy that she never fully agreed with, such as allowing the villains Mystique and Sabretooth to join.[15][16] Soon, X-Factor had grown so uncomfortable with the government's heavy-handed involvement that they violently cut their ties to them, choosing to operate "underground."[17]

Cooper returned to the Commission on Superhuman Activities, but has often used her position to help the X-Men surreptitiously, such as assisting the X-Men after they broke into the Pentagon searching for the Genoshan scientist Doctor Peter Corbeau or giving them tips to the activities of mutant villains. Cooper also helped the Thunderbolts and the V-Battalion defeat Henry Peter Gyrich when he was being controlled by nano-technology.[18]

Valerie Cooper later proposed a plan for the Sentinels. She wanted them to be protectors of humans, and called them a squad. The plan would turn out to be a bit of a failure, and she would later arrive to the X-Mansion with her plan of Sentinels protecting the mutants after M-Day. At first there was tension between her and the X-Men, but they later learned to accept her being there only to help.[19]

Cooper put together a squad to go after Stegron who was attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. bases. She placed Tigra in charge and had Humberto Lopez recruited to the team.[20]

She began working with Jamie Madrox's X-Factor Investigations as part of her role as the head of the O*N*E*.[21] After X-Factor moved to Detroit, Val Cooper continued to work with Madrox unbeknownst to the rest of the team. She revealed her secret arrangement with Madrox when she attempted to provide protection for Siryn and her unborn child. She was hit by a bullet ricochet from her own agents who were trying to apprehend Siryn and Rictor.[22]